Graffiti showdown: art against the clock

It’s 10.30 on a Saturday night at a warehouse in Shoreditch, east London. As a silhouetted figure sweeps a black brushstroke across a huge white wall, 800 people cheer, their whoops drowned out by rasping dubstep. The crowd is here to see two graffiti artists, Hicks and Reeps, going head-to-head for a £1,000 prize (think 8 Mile with paint). As Hicks continues to fill his white canvas, on the other side of the stage Reeps grabs a pen and gets to work on his own masterpiece. This is Secret Wars, brainchild of Terry Guy from design collective Monorex. “We wanted an exhibition that wasn’t your normal gallery show,” he says. “The battle element came after seeing The Warrior and Fight Club.”

Taking its name from Marvel’s 1984 “heroes vs villains” comic, Secret Wars operates in 15 cities worldwide. The next tournament launches in Dresden in late May, with the German final on June 28. Contestants have 90 minutes to create a spontaneous monochrome mural, before a panel of judges gives a verdict. “We appeal to everyone, including fine artists,” says Guy, “but we also have people with criminal records. Last year’s final was pretty aggressive – I was hit by a flying bottle.”

Despite its popularity, Secret Wars has its critics. “Some hardcore crews think we’re commercialising graffti,” Guy says, “but we turned down £100,000 from a car company that wanted to ‘present’ the competition. We’re pretty careful.” Organisers are considering a collaboration with Cut & Paste, the live graphic-design contest. “I imagine our guys on canvas with their pens, battling it out with the Cut & Paste guys on their Wacom tablets.”

Tonight, Reeps’ work is the crowd’s favourite – but the judges from the V&A and MTV crown Hicks anyway. So what will he spend the money on? “Music equipment,” he says. “And new trousers.”